Following indications from Delhi that the process for the formation of a Telangana State has hit the Hyderabad roadblock, utter confusion seems to be prevailing among Congress leaders from the region. AICC spokesperson and Rajya Sabha member Renuka Chowdary, who created a flutter at the T Congress leaders’ meeting on Sunday, gave a new twist on Monday, commenting that she could not give any assurance that the T state would be a reality before 2014 elections.
“When I am not a CWC member, how can I give an assurance? I can’t give such a guarantee just for the sake of public posturing. Being an AICC spokesperson, I can only make an announcement when the government is ready and when I am asked to make an announcement,” she said.
In the same breath, Renuka Chowdary appealed to the Telangana Congress leaders not to get nervous by the delay. Speaking to a vernacular channel, she said, “None should become jittery because of the delay. In fact, if any politician thinks in a mature way, he can easily understand that the process will take some time as the UPA needs to take note of the views of its allies. Being a national party, the Congress has to think twice before taking a step forward in that direction and placing the T note before the Cabinet.”
In an indirect dig at Karimnagar MP Ponnam Prabhakar, who objected to her presence at Sunday’s meeting, she said she had never defied the party line like somebody had done by colluding with the TRS. Renuka Chowdary said whatever comments she had made on the issue earlier which had attracted the wrath of the T leaders were made in her capacity as AICC spokesperson and that too, as per the directions of the party high command.
She urged her party leaders from Telangana to exercise restraint while commenting on their Seemandhra counterparts. “Seemandhra people are unable to digest proposed division of AP. After living together for almost 60 years in a united state, naturally it is painful for anybody to get separated. So, there is nothing wrong in the agitation of the Seemandhra people,” she said.
On the other hand, following the delay in the T process, the unity which has been achieved among T Congress leaders after the announcement of the T decision by the CWC, seems to be gradually shattering now.
Former minister and Nalgonda MLA Komatireddy Venkat Reddy on Monday fired salvos at his party rivals.